Archive for the ‘Themes’ Category

Feedback or Solitude? Another Dilemma for Writers

Posted: July 31, 2012 in Christian novels, creativity, ideas, Themes, Writing
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I can’t help it. I’m a blabbermouth.

When I am working on a writing project, I can’t hardly wait to finish a chapter before I print it off and start to share it. I corner my wife, harangue my students, bother my daughter, even pester you faithful blog readers just to know that someone, somewhere is reading my stuff.

And that, to me, is the bottom line. That’s really the reason why we write. We want to share ideas, characters, adventure, quandaries with other people. We want to savor the creative experience, yes, but then we want to savor it even more vicariously through someone else’s eyes.

And deep down I know it is a mortal sin, at least to some writers. Hemingway and countless other “real” writers would never show anyone anything until they had survived multiple edits and countless drafts. And even then it was painful for them to reveal their project to the world. The old saying goes: when is a manuscript ready for publication? When the writer edits the same commas out and then back in the manuscript.

I will have to confess that I am not a purist when it comes to writing. In some ways, you could probably say I am a hack. Being someone who comes from the communication discipline, it’s not about making beautiful poetry with my prose. It’s about learning the best, fastest, most effective way to get my brilliant idea from point A (my brain) to point B (your brain). And somewhere I probably miss some steps.

But I do have to argue that there comes a time when feedback is helpful, nay, instrumental, in getting your writing back on track. I can recount several novels that I started with high hopes only to discard because (a) I couldn’t find the inspiration to keep going; or (b) someone else didn’t see the point I was trying to make. I am convinced that a writer has to be a salesman of sorts, and the first person he has to sell on his story is himself. If he can’t sell the idea–visualize it, fantasize it, picture it in Technicolor 3-D–then it is a stillbirth waiting to happen.

There have been a few projects that I believed in so strongly that I continued and finished them even when I couldn’t get anyone else excited about them. But I will be the first to admit that telling a potential reader about a story idea and then seeing the light go on in their eyes is a major rush for a writer. Then it’s simply a matter of dealing with the inevitable question: can I deliver?

I know that my writing could be much better if I kept it to myself until it was letter perfect. At least in theory. But I also know that I would have a hard time keeping motivated to write if I had to struggle on a project for a couple of years with no feedback, all the time wondering if I was wasting my time.

The bottom line is: you have to find what works for you.

Character vs. Characterization

Posted: July 16, 2012 in Stories, Themes, Writing
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I am presently reading the book “Story” by Robert McKee. I’m reading it in preparation for a class on Dramatic Writing I will be teaching beginning next month. I will have to say that it is one of the best books on writing I have ever read–and I have read quite a few of them.

I am a big proponent of writers broadening their horizons and learning to write in other media and other disciplines. A lot can be said for novelists learning how to write news stories, or personality profiles, or poetry. Each contributes ideas and discipline that helps a writer hone his or her craft, regardless of what or where that craft is.

One of the sections that particularly got to me in McKee’s book this morning was his view on Character vs. Characterization. According to McKee, characterization is telling about physical, mental, and other attributes of a person in your story. What they look like, where they come from, etc. Character, on the other hand, is who they are.

He uses the illustration of two people driving on the freeway; one, a successful neurosurgeon, the other, an illegal alien working as a housekeeper. In front of them, a school bus crashes. Who will stop to help the children caught in the flaming wreck? Both have something to lose. If both stop, who will call 911 and wait, and who will climb inside? And then what choices will they make regarding who is saved and who is not? If it comes down to a choice between each character saving another child and losing their own life, will they do it?

McKee writes: “True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure–the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.”

He goes on to state that in many ways, learning what the protagonist’s true character is often the main purpose of the story. As I read this, I think of several of my own stories and ask myself: Did my story take it far enough to learn who my protagonist really was? If not, why not?

It is a question that I think every novelist should ask himself or herself. To be honest, I am not sure that I did my protagonist’s complete justice. And so I think I will try to remember this question, this challenge, with the story I am working on.

The Elephant in the Room

Posted: July 3, 2012 in Christianity, fear, Themes
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I have a pet that is very ill. My dog, Cooper, is having seizures.

They started about a year ago. My wife and I were home one afternoon when his eyes suddenly grew wide, his legs splayed and his claws were flexed tense. We tried to keep him calm until the seizure ended about 30 seconds later. When we talked to the vet about it, he said that unless he had the seizures more often than a week or so apart, it wasn’t worth it for us to get him on seizure medication.

That was a year ago. Last week he had three seizures in a row, and this morning he had another one. We are at the point of finally taking him in for medication. But there is also the question tickling the back of our minds: how bad will this get? Is this signaling the end sometime soon?

I know that seizures don’t necessarily mean a pet–or a person–is dying. Those with epilepsy can learn to live with it. And we were surrendered to the idea that he may be experiencing these seizures the rest of his life. But they are coming more frequently now, lasting longer, and coming in clusters.

A few years ago, I wrote a blog about another dog I had who was getting weaker and weaker with an unknown ailment. She got to the point where we had to help her up and down the stairs, and eventually had to hold her up so that she could urinate. Finally we had her put to sleep. It was hard, but as adults we have accepted the fact that death is part of life.

And that’s what this blog is about. We try to avoid it. We hide it from our kids. But the reality is that all of us are going to die someday. Those of us who believe in heaven, salvation and the second coming have the hope that this life is not all there is. But we still have to deal with this life on earth ending for us.

I know parents who don’t want their children to know when a pet has been put down. They think kids shouldn’t know about death. But if a child grows up on a farm, they are exposed to death in many forms, just as they are exposed to birth in the form of new baby chicks, new kittens, etc. It’s the circle of life, or so the Lion King would say.

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.” Ecclesiastes 7:2.

I don’t write this to drop a pallor on your day. But if we are real with each other, it’s probably something we could bear to talk about more often. Death puts life into context.

Doesn’t it?

 

What Themes to Be the Problem?

Posted: June 16, 2012 in Christian novels, Organization, Themes, Writing, Writing class
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I just finished completing my evaluation of a book by one of my former students. It was, all in all, a very good book. In fact, I hope to see it in print one day. But one of the questions I had at the end is the inevitable “So What? question.

Sure it was entertaining. But what socially redeeming message did it include?

This is not to say that authors should have preaching in mind when they tell a story. In fact, I strongly advise them not to. As J.R.R. Tolkien stated: “Sometimes a story is just a story.” But the reality is, when the story is finished, a message comes through, whether the author intended it or not.

One of the questions I included on the final exam for my recent Narrative Writing class was: “What is your life philosophy and how is it reflected in your writing?” This seems like an odd question for students who are simply trying to learn the techniques of writing short stories and novels, but on the other hand, I believe it helps them to focus on what it is they are trying to say, whether they are intentionally trying to say it or not, if you catch my drift.

The moment writers complete a story, they should take a moment and look back at their story, try to distance themselves for objectivity, and ask: what am I really saying here? Asking that question can help sharpen one’s focus and can be the difference between a good story and a great one.

So when you have a fantasy adventure story, such as the one I just finished reading, you need to be left with some sort of message. Or actually, you will be left with some sort of message.

It just is a matter of what message you are left with.

The Wellspring of Significance

Posted: June 12, 2012 in Stories, Themes, Writing
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Someone, I think it was Ernest Hemingway, gave the advice that writers should first go out and live outrageously for 20 years before they start writing. The point there was that one has to have some experience to write from before one can write seriously.

Maybe that’s why so many of my writing students want to write fantasy. It’s easier to make something up than rehash real-life stuff, especially if you don’t have much real life to rehash. The problem you get into is that whatever you write–fantasy, sci fi, westerns or romance–if it’s good, should be making commentary on everyday life. That’s really the secret behind good fantasy and good science fiction. Both of them are simply vehicles to make comments about modern-day society. Even westerns get down to the basics of human existence. When what you write misses this part, it seems shallow.

I can talk about the value of significance because I have been around for a while. Trouble is, if you wait until you’re 50 to begin writing, there’s a whole lot of learning that will need to take place to be a good writer. And so, for me as well as most everyone else, my writing education started when I was a teenager. I hadn’t lived much and had a very stereotypical view of the world and the way things worked or should work, but I had to start somewhere.

Even now, there are many things I am totally ignorant of. I have never been arrested, never been on trial, never taken drugs, never been to war. But there are many things I have experienced, and those that I haven’t, I can extrapolate based on the experience of friends and family. Sometimes I wish I had experienced some of those things just for the wisdom it would bring to my writing. And then I remember that wisdom is what kept me off of drugs and out of jail to begin with.

They say that genius is the ability to learn from other people’s mistakes. Maybe that’s the genius when it comes to writing, too. I haven’t done everything in my life that Ernest Hemingway did. But that doesn’t mean I can draw social and personal significance from the experiences I have had.

It’s not really about living. It’s more about observing. Because I believe it is better to have lived a limited or sheltered life and done it with eyes open than to done everything and been everywhere, all the time in a drunken haze or oblivious to the pain and suffering it had put on those around you.

Changing the world…one story at a time

Posted: May 22, 2012 in Christian novels, Stories, Themes, Writing
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I don’t think I am alone when I tell the truth that there was always something in me that wanted to change the world.

However, you see the world–in need of God, unfair, abusive, frightening–I believe that everyone has a desire to change it. Writers are slightly different because most of us believe that one story–the right story, told to the right people on the right day in just the right way–can change things. And as you think back on your own life, anyone who reads avidly can probably remember at least one book or story or poem that had a significant impact on them. That’s what motivates a lot of writers to do what they do. They want to say those right words and make a difference.

Well, here’s a tidbit from my million years or so of experience: It’s not what we do that counts. It’s who we are.

That profound statement has taken me years to understand, and I’m not sure I still even understand it completely. But I will tell you what I do know. Writing is a reflection of the writer. If you want to write a story that changes lives, the first thing you have to do is change yourself. We can’t help it. It’s impossible to write an earth-changing story unless we sincerely believe the things we are writing. And as I go through life, I find that many more people are inspired by the little things I do–things I do unintentially as opposed to sermons about rightness or goodness–than they are by my stories. Chances are, an idea might jog someone’s mind or conscience. But often it’s the little, unintentional things that have the biggest impact.

This isn’t put here to discourage you. Far from it. What it means is that we just need to practice what we preach. And then when it comes to the writing part, just have fun. Let the story live; let the characters breathe. If you’re sincerely living the live you propose, the story will reflect it.

But in the end, remember it is just a story. On the other hand, your life is a living story to those around you. And what you are is a lot more powerful than the words you put on paper.

 

Tom Horn Gets a Facelift

Posted: May 10, 2012 in Science Fiction, Steampunk, Stories, Themes, Westerns, Writing
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I’m a relative rookie when it comes to independent publishing. I’ve actually only been doing this since January, 2012. And in the past four months, I have learned a great deal.

One of the cardinal rules I have learned about marketing my books is that the two biggest things you can do to help sales of your book is: (1) get a good edit; and (2) get a great cover. These are investments that I am slowly realizing I need to make.

My son, Matt, is responsible for the covers we have so far, and Tom Horn vs. the Warlords of Krupp was our first one. It was also the first book he had ever designed. The cover features an actual photo of Tom Horn, with a little steampunk flavor thrown in. It was one of those great ideas that wasn’t executed properly. We were learning, but slowly.

There is definitely a learning curve involved in independent publishing. But I have two advantages. First, I have many years experience as an editor, and so I know the process. Second, I presently teach and as such, have access to many brilliant students with lots of great ideas. One of the ideas to come from my Applied PR and Advertising class was the recommendation that we log onto a website called Deviant Art and find an illustrator that we could afford. We did exactly that, and eventually met and made friends with Mateusz Ozminski, a graduate student in Poland. He agreed to produce a cover for Tom Horn.

And so earlier this week, we finally received some sketches of possible covers for Tom Horn. Because it involved a real western character, yet was in the world of steampunk, we were very particular about the final product and were concerned that it truly represent the nature of the book. Mateusz has shared four possible covers with us. One shows Tom Horn on horseback being chased by a enormous zeppelin. The second shows Horn overlooking a steampunk city. The third shows Tom Horn climbing a rope ladder to a zeppelin with Winchester rifle in hand. The final shows a scene from the book where he is involved in a gunfight.

I am not going to tell you which of the four possible images we chose. Instead, I’d like your input as to which one you like. The final product will be unveiled, hopefully, later this month.

Can you believe it?

Posted: April 12, 2012 in Christian novels, Christianity, Myths, Religion, Stories, Themes, Writing, Writing class
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As I have mentioned here many times before, I’m teaching a Narrative Writing class this semester that is presently winding down. In addition to requiring students to write the first 50 pages of a novel as well as the outline, they will have an essay final. One of the questions on the final I have been talking to them about since the beginning of the semester. The question is this: What is your life philosophy and how is it reflected in your writing?

I doubt very much that any of the students will be flippant about their response, especially considering the second part of that question and that I have become intimately familiar with their writing. But it is a question that I think every writer needs to ask themselves.

The idea for the question comes from a book that I have in my home library. The name of the book escapes me, but it features a variety of contemporary writers who tell of the author that had the biggest influence on them. The essay I go back to time and again was written by Stephen Lawhead, Christian fantasy and historical novelist. In it, he talks about the influence that J.R.R. Tolkien had on him as a writer. He also tells how Tolkien, himself a Christian and part of the Oxford group of authors called The Inklings that also included C.S. Lewis, was asked time and again about the powerful Christian metaphors that could be found in The Lord of the Rings. What does it all mean?

“It’s just a story, that’s all,” Tolkien would say. And he was right. Tolkien did not write about Frodo, Aragorn and Gandalf in an effort to evangelize the world, or even express his love for a Savior. But the message was there, nevertheless.

Lawhead saw it as a revelation in his own writing. Instead of approaching his Christian mission in life in a heavyhanded way, the reality was–as he saw it–that regardless of what he wrote, what he believed would shine through. That was both liberating and sobering. Liberating because he had the license to write whatever he wanted without feeling guilty. Sobering because if he truly didn’t believe what he espoused, that would come through as well. You can’t fake sincerity, no matter how much you try.

And so it comes around to my students. In a couple of weeks, I will ask them the telling question. What do you believe? In some cases, I suspect they won’t truly know what they believe until they take a hard look at their own writing. Maybe their stories will serve as a window into their own soul, a place many college students need to examine more often.

Embrace the Fear

Posted: January 12, 2012 in fear, Themes, Writing, Writing class
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My Narrative Writing class and I have been reading the book, The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes. Great book. We’ve just hit the first chapter, but it was eye opening to my students. It talks about writing being an act of courage. In one place he writes, “Working writers aren’t those who have eliminated their anxiety. They are the ones who keep scribbling while their heart races and their stomach churns, and who mail manuscripts with trembling fingers.”

Now my first reaction to this book, and the general reaction of my students, is that he is talking about the fear of failure. And that’s partially true. But on a deeper level, he is talking about delving into that dark closet in our psyche we keep closed and locked, filled with things that we are embarrassed about and frightened of must of all. Writing, above all, must be a personal enterprise.

And so I took a few minutes yesterday to ask my students to share what they were most afraid of. For me it’s (1) dark, close places; (2) the Devil; and (3) public humiliation. Others were afraid of heights, afraid of their own race, afraid of the dark. While those are not exactly the fears that Keyes was talking about, I believe, it was a first step. Our project in tomorrow’s class is to confront those fears and write about them. I told the class that the theme will be, Embrace the Fear.

I plan on writing with the class. And even though it would be easy to cop out and write about something like claustrophobia, which still keeps me relatively safe, I think I will try and sum the courage to write about something even more painful: public humiliation. That’s the plan at this point. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

I will let you know how it goes.

And for my next trick….

Posted: June 1, 2010 in Christian novels, Christianity, Myths, Religion, Science Fiction, Themes, Writing
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Good, bad or ugly, the last few weeks I have been able to crank out the first eight chapters of a YA fantasy novel (Crash Corrigan) and two short stories (The Well of Souls and This Twisted Thing Called Love). The novel was a spur of the moment idea; the short stories have been on my to-do list for a while. And thus I have delayed the inevitable.

About three years ago I started writing a three-book series I called The Champion. It tells the story of a pastor who asks God to use him in a big way, which leads him to confront evil people in high places. It takes our champion to prison, through an escape, into the start of an underground Christian organization and into dangerous places many, many times. The second book, The Heretic, was written last summer, which is the story of the underground activist team he starts. He recruits from runaways, prostitutes and gang members. Today I am starting on the third book, entitled Elijah.

If you are interested in reading any of the stuff I have written so far this summer, it’s all here, somewhere on this blog. I will also be posting at least the first few chapters of Elijah here. If you feel like you need to read the first two books first–which is probably a pretty good idea–let me know and I will send you a PDF version of the books to read. Free of charge.

Glad to hear your comments. Keep reading.

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